Method of burning and sintering material



Feb. 2, 1954 K. MEYER ETAL METHOD OF BURNING AND SINTERING MATERIAL F'iIed Jan. 19, 1951 INVENTOR Kurt Meyer Hans Rausch W' ififiim wwx vi WSMB Patented Feb; 2, 1 954 METHOD. OF BURNING :AND" 'SINTERING" MATERIAL" Kurt: Meyer; Frankfurt am: Main and e. Hans;

Rausch-,-.Erankfmtt am;Main-Fechenheim, Germany, assignors;to;.Metallgesellschaft 4 Aktien-tgesellscliaft; Frankfurt am .Maimufiermany, va corporation of Germany Application alanuaryill), 195:1; SerialiNo: 2116;939

(ilaimsnpriority, application iGrmany January 20,21950" silicate onmixtures of these substances, hitherto 10 theiraw" materials. were. disintegrated" to at size at" least; below 7 Innis." In various industries; e: in'the industries working lime; dolomite and': magnesite, theraw material "occurs "in the dress ingprocess in' different grain sizes. for the burning: or sinteri'ng; in shaft furnaces; grainisizesabove30, mostly 'above 50 mms, are" usedin; order 'to ensure" a" suifi'cient passage of air through thecharge iduring j the burning proc= Thefiner grainsxcould bevvworkewup ini ess; revolving kilnsJbutowin'g to' the'share' of tcoarse" grain sizes long preheating periods and, pri= marily higlrburn'ing' temperatures'in the 'sinter-' ing zone would be required: Thefitirnacelining sufiers through theaintensive temperatureaistresss,

Therefore, it has togbe replacedmore.freqnently r for instance, than; in L revolving. cement;- kilns.=. Hitherto an apparatus andia processarezmissin-g; whiohswouldibe adaptediior themurningsim ans;

economic. manner of,grain...sizes,of,0,to about "mms.

In the normal induced draft sintering process it is: oftentimesnoted. that. amore. intensive melting "takeswplaceinthe lower. layersathairiinz tlie-upper ones. Thissisvduetosthe. stagnation'ss 35 onvaccumulations-ot heat resu1ting.. by the =facti: that the suckedwn air isnheated iin aamzeversime creasing measure by thematerial which is already sintered or burnt and past which it has to flow in io-rder tovget 'stoitheburning zonev The 4 fonmatiorrzof molten material-' is...=undesirable:in most-l fieldsgo-fa-pplication oi the induced.- draft: sintering andrepresents a disadvantage 0f thee method-A Therefore; rmeth'odsuare known-where this is; counteracted by ireducingrthet amount 1 of fuel-tin:- the lower. layers. However; hitherto- 1t isfinot'i-known to t-make*theaaccumulation 0-f- :lieat an essential feature of 'th'e-*-.process:.. Hitherto; in" the: induced-*1 draft f: sinterings -depending: on-J thehrawc'material .usedi-ilayers of. up ltd- 0315; (burning; oft Portland: cement) normally: up te-"s 303cmsr; have. been used:-

The instant invention is diagrammatically il lustrated m the accompanying drawing r which For instance-,1. 15

Accordingto -our novei-=method-for the burn*- ing; or "burning and si-rrtering', ordifiicultly'melt ing substances; such'as; carbonates-of the al-' ka'line earths or diificultly'meltingsulphates, such-= as "gypsum" or heavy-spar or other substances' or mixtures-of 'substarrces o-f a high meltlngpoint; e." gr; mixtures--ofwanchlime fromwvh-ich initialmateria-ls fdi" the" industry of refractory stones are to" lie-obtained, themetliod -lrithertousedis s modified by increasing the layer above the-grate to an amount-- ofmore than '-39- cms:, respectively irrtlie case ofmementmore thamwcms; up'to abouti3meterspnmorer Thus the-temperature rise-in-thelower'layers-01tlre-clrargeorrthe' grate reachesamaximum--a-ndthe lower layers are lying for amuchE-longer -period -in a- -zoneof in creased temperature? In" order to-safely avoid disturbing"phenomena, e: g., in-the burningpf lime a'rrexcessive-burning which wouldbe d etriinental to" its-- quality and binding power; according to-"th'e invention the material to be-burnt; or" to -be-burnt and" sin-tiered; may be usedin grainsi-zes'up to 5B; advantageously-- 30- to 46 mms:

-A- disadvantage of the-working in *sh a-ft fur-- nacesisthe advancingof' the fire-zone -at*the--- sh'aft'walls. This' apart-irom thehigh wear tea-r oftlre-iurnace diningcauses-a-nomuniformburning; since thefirecannot-follow "in the-mid are ofthe shaft." Special measures are-requiredthe' 'inventiorr'this' disadvantage can be -removed" by introduci-ng at' tlre'--side-walls-alayer of'al ready b'urntma-terial or-fresh material or a II-riX- titre-of 'bu-rIi-t and* freslr -material= which a is aid vantageously free fr'om fuel-or poor in fuel By introducing this s layer which is advantageously: of-a*'-firrer-grain'size-'tlran' the normal'charge; the resistance-at the sidewalls is'increaSed and tlre air' for combustion is" forced to pass through the port-ionsorthe=charge=containing the-fuels Moreover, fins-possibleto subdivide-thechargeinto single classesofgrains andto reed the same to thegrate-mixed with fuely in such a-manner-tha-v the coarse grains come to-lie-at =thebottom and "th-e finer ones-on top:- Thusthecoarsegrains are enabled* to be exposecl to elevatecl' I temperatures I for -a longer period? In order to make the burn v mg -process as intensive-as possible from -tlre=-out'- set, it 1 is== advisable to add i a higher amount= of '"fiiel tv theopper Iayers thamto-the lower-chem My novel method is parti'cularly suitable--for th'e 'b urning and sirttering otlimestone; dolomite; magnesiter or: otherrsubstancest required mainly:

slmwssaacrossssectionalsview througma sinteringq tlre industry ofi rerractory 'material$ such as apparatusiaecondmg; to: thesinventionm clay om-spaciatimixtures or dolomitee sand}. and;

other additions. Especially where fluxes are added and this burnt material is used as an intermediate product in the manufacture of refractory stones, the shard should be as dense as possible. The appearance of the agglomerate made according to the conventional sintering process is coral-like or spongy, while the sintered pieces made according to the new process, depending on their composition, are more scorified and molten.

In the conventional induced draft sintering process the insufficiently burnt or poorly-sintered product was separated without difliculties from the satisfactory material by screening the whole yield. However, this is not possible in my novel process when burning non-sintering materials,

since, for instance, satisfactorily burnt pieces of lime of a grain size of to 30 mms. may lie beside poorly burnt ones of the same grain size so that separation by sieving is not possible. It has been found, however, that the specific gravity and the bulk density or volumetric weight of pieces burnt with different intensity differ from each other. By utilizing these properties, using an appropriate dressing method, e. g., pneumatic sifting or jigging machines, pneumatic concentrators, or the like, it is possible to achieve a sufficiently sharp separation of the individual qualities.

As is well known, hydraulic binders, such as, Portland cement, are also made after the process of induced draft sintering. Owing to the interaction of endothermic processes (dissociation of limestone) and exothermic reactions (formation of the single clinker minerals) careful dressing of the charge completed the essential features of the process. The introduction of about 60 percent and more of return material as a condensation nucleus for the formation of thin raw meal shells about the same was a requirement regarded as troublesome and unnecessary in the cement industry. For this reason, oftentimes it has been attempted to do without or with only a small quantity of return material, but this method could not be adopted in practice. In several plants making cement according to the induced draft sintering process the amount of return material is about 60 to 85 percent of the raw meal quantity. In order to safely obtain a satisfactory formation of clinker, the granular material was produced in special mixing apparatuses and charged on the grate mainly in grain sizes below 6 mms. As soon as the grains by careless working had a larger size, the same did not burn through and appeared as white balls, depending on their size, in the charge on the grate or in the yield, thereby affecting the quality thereof. By applying my novel high layer method, it is possible to do with less return material, to use coarser grains and to reduce the amount of fuel required. In order to obtain an intensive production of heat already in the top layers it is advisable to crumble the upper layer approximately as heretofore in a thickness of 10 to 50 cms. and with suflicient return material, while this is not necessary in regard to the layers underneath this top layer. The sinter obtained by my novel method is harder than the known Portland cement clinker obtained by the known induced draft sintering process, and in order to produce a predetermined amount of return material, it would be necessary to disintegrate finished Portland cement clinker. In order to avoid this, it is also possible to renounce the careful crumbling and more intensive ignition of the top layers so that the surface in a depth of several centimeters consists of unburnt or poorly burnt sinter which then when sifting the sintered material automatically gets into the return material. An important advantage which is secured by applying my novel high layer sintering method for the production of Portland cement or other sintered products of a similar composition consists in the saving of fuel. It is known that cement clinker which has been molten too intensively causes more difliculties in grinding and moreover does not have the high strength of a clinker which has been burnt less intensively. Therefore, in order to counteract the formation of molten material occurring by the high layer it is possible to reduce the fuel on the lower layers accordingly.

In this latter case and in similar cases, where agglomerate is produced contrary to the buming of lime, the separation of good and poor quality products can be carried out by the sieving process in the conventional arrangement.

Example 1 Limestone with 98 percent of CaCO; is applied in a layer of 3 meters thickness on a stationary grate of 0.8X0.8 meters length of the sides as follows:

The grate is covered by a layer of 20 cms. limestone which is free from fuel, in grain sizes of 15 to 30 mms.; on top of this is a layer of 2.1 tons of limestone (grain size 5 to 30 mms.) mixed with 240 kgs. of coke; on top of this is lying a layer of 0.25 tons of fine-grained lime, grain size 0.5 mms., mixed with 42.5 kgs. of coke which is applied in grain sizes up to 10 mms. After the surface has been ignited, e. g., by a gas flame, air is sucked through the burning charge with a negative pressure of about 300 to 100 mms. water column. The burnt material thus obtained, for instance, contains in the top layer in the grain sizes 0-5. mm 0.61% CO2 5-10 mm 5.92% CO2 l0-15 mm 5.5 CO2 15-20 mm 8.95% CO2 more than 20 mm 11.2%

In the layers underneath the respective figures are:

0-5 mm 0% CO2 5-10 mm 0.11% CO2 10-15 mm 1.78% CO1 15-20 mm 1.43% CO2 more than 20 mm 1.45% CO2 Example 2 A crumbled mixture, comprising 2'70 kgs. of a fine-grained material by suitable disintegrating. and sifting devices and whose coarse granulations are used in the industry of the refractory.

materials.

While the invention has been described in de- .tail with respect to certain now preferred examples and embodiments of the invention it will;

CO2 (all by weight) be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended, therefore, to cover all such changes and modifications in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A method of burning high melting point materials comprising forming a deep bed by arranging on a grate a first layer of coarse particles of the material, covering said first layer with less coarse particles of said material mixed with fuel, placing on the second layer of a third layer composed of fine particles of said material mixed with a greater proportion of fuel than said second layer whereby the fuel content of the assembled mass of layers decreases from the top to the bottom of the mass, igniting said fuel, and passing air downwardly through said mass.

2. A method as in claim 1, said material consisting of a Portland cement forming mixture, and said assembled mass of layers having a depth of about three meters.

3. A method as in claim 1, said material consisting of refractory forming mixture, and said assembled layers having a depth of about one and one-half meters.

KURT MEYER. HANS RAUSCH.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,315,952 Dwight et a1 Sept. 16, 1919 1,688,422 Hyde Oct. 23, 1928 1,926,032 Bunce et a1; Sept. 12, 1933 2,090,868 Hyde Aug. 24, 1937. 

